Subscribers use networks to access applications and resources such as voice, video, gaming, and conferencing from their communication devices such as phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop, and desktop computers. Providers of these applications and resources utilize policies to determine whether a subscriber is authorized to access the requested service or application.
Because of the complexity of creating policies in current rule-based approaches, many of these current rule-based systems limit a service provider to a simple yes or no answer when access to a specific application or resource is attempted. The ability to specify additional actions or parameters associated with an access attempt is limited or non-existent in these systems.
Furthermore, rule definition is tied directly to policy creation. For example, in these systems, a rule engine is used to define and enact subscriber policies. Typical rule engines have a rule definition interface that allows rules to be defined as predicate statements such as “If condition then action” or as decision trees that use a flow-chart format. However, to define a policy based on conditions, a rule engine-based interface requires that each step be defined in a step-by-step fashion. As conditions and path variations increase, the complexity and difficulty of entering policies increases. In addition, when rules change in a rule-engine, applications interacting with the rule engine may need code changes or end-user interaction (e.g., in the form of application restarts), in order to update the applications. Furthermore, current rule engines do not allow for the extension of existing rule definitions to new rule instances. Instead, new rule flows must be created for each rule instance.
What is therefore needed are systems and methods which separate rule definition from policy definition.
What is further needed is a simple, extensible method for expressing policies, particularly at a subscriber-level basis.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers can indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number may identify the drawing in which the reference number first appears.